So, I really want to start working on Wonderland again. I know! I have a ton of other stuff to be doing. But I've been reading back on it, and despite the mauling the first chapter got from my writers' group a few months ago, I still really love it. I think it's salvagable, if I do some tidying up on the worldbuilding. I've only got, I think, four chapters so far, so that shouldn't be hard. It won't be anything on the scale of Wild, which I'll be rewriting from the ground up over Christmas.

I might have to take out the Pontiac and the firestorms, which serve no purpose except being flashy! and exciting! The magic storms can stay, since they have actual plot purpose. The whole Fey-human-changeling-harvest thing can stay, since that is the plot. Bronte might need a career change, but Nate can remain a heartless bounty hunter, because what good is a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy without a heartless bounty hunter?

Exactly.

So, first of all I'm excited to announce that my short story Burned will be appearing in this month's Ethereal Tales. Yay! I love short story writing, so I'm always pleased when I actually get something published, and I'm especially pleased in this case because it's a Scarlett story. Scarlett and her gang of werewolves, necromancers, lost gods, and pyschics being my first writing love and all that.

Anyway, I've seen this on a few people's blogs, butkaz_mahoney  is encouraging everyone to do it, so here we are.

'I wish you were coming with me tonight.' - SILVER KISS (which is rolling along nicely, thanks!)

A fire storm was brewing. - Wonderland (which has stalled because I'm too lazy to work on the much-needed worldbuildling).

She ran through the forest, the metallic tang of blood in her nostrils - Wild (which one day I will finish rewriting because I love it, damn you).

The vampire slunk through the dead leaves and damp earth, a parody of the woman it had been in life - Death for the Born (don't really have any witty comments for this one).

Clearly all this unseasonable sun fried it, because I feel totally empty-headed now. I've finished the first draft of Moths. Behold!

6831 / 6831 words. 100% done!

It's now with sanguinepen and laburton for their thoughts. I kind of planned on working on something else for the rest of the day, like the languishing Wonderland or Silver Kiss, but honestly, my head feels like it's just full of cotton wool. I blame hayfever. The house is full of dust and grass from yesterday and it's making me feel unbelievably ill. Curse you, Spring!

They often go awry, apparently? I don't remember the rest of the quote, I just remember being forced to read the book and hating it (except for Slim, who was six kinds of awesome). Anyway, the point is, my "let's Superman this weekend and write like Cthulhu is watching" plan has taken a backstep. My parents made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Food, a comfortable mattress, new clothes, and a hot bath,

So I'm at my parents, having enjoyed all of the above and having done no writing yesterday. I am planning to do some today, but Holly is currently trying to climb onto my head, which hampers the process somewhat. I'm a bit torn on what to work on though... The Scarlett novel is moving along nicely, although I can already tell the opening the chapters will need some serious revision somewhere down the line. But Wonderland is also calling, and so is that random futuristic-ish werewolf novel with the illiterate assassin as the main character idea too (Lone Wolf). I had a dream the other night that really got me thinking more about that idea. I don't want to start yet because there's a lot of world-building to be done first.

For example, my original idea was that my main character, Aisling, would one of the last werewolves in her world thanks to a war between humans and wolves. The wolves would have been wiped out with some kind of engineered disease, or something. A bit vague on that still. Then I thought I'd prefer a nuclear winter scenario, but I don't know how that could work so that werewolves were worse affected than humans. Then I did some research in Agent Orange because I liked the idea of a ruined world with very few green spaces left, but had the same issue as the nuclear winter scenario. Then I just gave up for a while because I started Wonderland, and one novel set in the aftermath of a war between humanity and a supernatural race of your choice is probably enough.

But now? I really want to start on Lone Wolf. Aisling is starting to come alive in my head, as are the secondary characters. If I can just get the world set up right, I'll be there. So what's better? Nuclear winter, Agent Orange, or a laboratory-created disease of an unknown nature?

8310 / 80000 words. 10% done!

Alright, despite my moping yesterday, I've managed 2k today. It's the first proper work I've done on Wonderland in two weeks, and I'm quite pleased with it. But now my arm is aching, which means it's time to do the exercises and mope about that.

Three days back at work after a week off, and my arm is killing me and I've wrenched my left shoulder - again. I don't know when I became so fragile. Laura the Physio says I'm too tense, a lot of which I put down to work/money-related unhappiness. So watch this space while Nome moves to New Zealand and becomes a shepherd.

In writing news, I've sent a few queries out for Death for the Born, one of which has turned into a partial request from a great agent, so yay! Night and Chaos is trying to turn into a novel, and Wonderland, which is actually a novel, is threatening to turn into a sprawling epic of staggering proportions. I know this because, even though I'm still writing chapter one, I've already got titles and plots for two sequels.

Of course whether or not I get round to writing them depends entirely on how soon I get out of this job and into the sheep-herding business.